Hamas to abandon its use of suicide bombers

Hamas is to abandon its use of suicide bombers, who have killed almost 300 Israelis, in any future confrontations with Israel, its activists have told The Observer.

The Islamic group, which leads the Palestinian Authority, says, however, that it may resort to other forms of violence if there is no progress towards Palestinian statehood.

Yihiyeh Musa, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said Hamas had moved into a 'new era' which did not require suicide attacks.

More at source

I remember that after Hamas won the elections everyone was saying this was the end of the chance for a solution. Now with their many offers of ceasefires, and this declaration of ending suicide bombings the pressure should be rising on Israel to match their moves bringing the two sides closer together. Or it could all just blow up again...

Originally posted by Malichai

The Islamic group, which leads the Palestinian Authority, says, however, that it may resort to other forms of violence if there is no progress towards Palestinian statehood
More at source

This means nothing unless it would have come from the leaders of hamas. Also note even the activists clearly stated other forms of violence were still open.

Originally posted by shots

This means nothing unless it would have come from the leaders of hamas. Also note even the activists clearly stated other forms of violence were still open.

The article quotes Yihiyeh Musa, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He is part of the Hamas leadership. If the others do not agree with what he said we will hear it soon enough.

Although they are leaving other options on the table they will be limited to actions within the occupied territories.

Ghazi Hamed, the spokesman for the government, said in future any military action would be restricted to the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel.

The occupational forces, and the illegal settlers are legitimate targets.

Originally posted by Malichai
Or it could all just blow up again...

Ouch.
I'm hoping the bad pun was unintentional.
I was tempted to make an off color comment about their attack methodes and ammuntion supply problems, but... um, no.

Definatly sounds to me like it's time for Isriel to suck it up and step up.
Peace cannot be attained through one side's actions.

dont count on it... could be a trap, all of a sudden somebody blows up!

Originally posted by worksoftplayhard
dont count on it... could be a trap, all of a sudden somebody blows up!

Even if someone does "blow up" why would it mean they were tied to Hamas? Suppose its someone independant that just isn't interested in peace and holds a vendetta? Should Hamas be responsible for that if some act of violence occurs?

Originally posted by ThePieMaN

Originally posted by worksoftplayhard
dont count on it... could be a trap, all of a sudden somebody blows up!

Even if someone does "blow up" why would it mean they were tied to Hamas? Suppose its someone independant that just isn't interested in peace and holds a vendetta? Should Hamas be responsible for that if some act of violence occurs?

YES, they should. They CLAIM to be a democraticly elected government of their people. This means they are responsible for what they and their people do or don't do. If their people wage war on another country, they are responsible. Remember hearing about daily rocket attacks they are doing on Isreal....ah, thats open warfare.

Now with their many offers of ceasefires, and this declaration of ending suicide bombings the pressure should be rising on Israel to match their moves

?
Pressure to match? If the yehudis get attacked, they respond. If an organization that is dedicated to destroying the state meets and plots against it, they attack. So, what do you mean 'match'? If a couple or mortars are fired into isreal, are they not supposed to respond???

Originally posted by Malichai
The occupational forces, and the illegal settlers are legitimate targets.

Actually, the settlers are not legitimate targets, they're civilians, they can't be targeted.

Also, pretty stupid of hamas to continue its war with the yehudis, since the yehudis are about a hundred times more powerful than them. The palestinians are far too weak to do anything about the occupation through violence, other than target civilians, like you suggest.